After boyhood in prison, a chance for freedom

8:41 PM,
Dec. 2, 2013

Gingerich

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. Nearly three years after he became perhaps the youngest Hoosier ever sentenced to prison as an adult, Paul Henry Gingerich - given a second chance in the courts - has agreed to a plea deal that could set him free when he turns 18.

At age 12, Gingerich was sentenced as an adult to a 25-year prison term for a 2010 murder conspiracy in the shooting death of a friend's stepfather. Even with credits for good behavior, that could have kept him in locked up until his mid-20s, with the final years likely spent in an adult prison.

The deal struck Monday by his attorney and the Kosciusko County prosecutor could ...